Roller-bearing.



PATENTED MAR. 22, 1904.

- W. s. SHARPNEGK. ROLLER BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 30, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

INVENTOR. jlllld'r n gfiarflaflck 'ATTORNE WITNESSES. fiN-JL Q IPatented March 22, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

WILLIAM S. SHARPNEOK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO THIRDS TOJAMES L. ONSTOTT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AND FREDERICK C. VEHMEYER, OF

ROLLER-BEARING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 755,177, dated March22, 1904. Application filed December 30, 1902. Serial No. 137,128 (Nomodel.)

To all whmn it may concern.

Be it known that I, WVILL'IAM S. SHARrNEoK,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, Cook county,Illinois, have invented cersuch as railroad-cars and the like.

One of the well-known objections to roller and ball bearings has beenthe friction between the rollers and balls on account of their adjacentsurfaces rotating against each other inopposite directions and theweight of the load being imposed upon substantially one-' half of therollers or balls in such a way as to cause considerable crowding andbinding between them.

The object of my invention is to reduce friction between the rollers orballs, to reduce the number thereof upon which theload is imposed atonetime, and to do away with binding between the rollers or balls not actually under load.

A further object of the invention is to provide a removablewearing-surface which may be renewed at comparatively small cost ofmaterial and labor.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a removablewearing surface which shall permit of a construction in which afriction-surface' of better wearing qualities and of better materialthan the balance of the box or ball-race, thereby avoiding the necessityof constructing the whole of the latter of the more expensive material.

Generally speaking, my invention consists in one or more frictionmembers adapted to p be inserted in a bearing-box or ball-race in such amanner as to project slightly beyond the inner surface of said box orball-race wearing-surface, whereby smaller andremovable'friction-surfaces are provided; and the invention furtherconsists in the various details of construction and in combinations ofparts, all as hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointedout in the claims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and inwhich Figure 1 illustrates my invention as applied to a car-axle, beinga transverse section through the journal, journal-box, and a pair ofgibs or roller-bearings, together with a set of rollers. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional View of the same. 7

In the drawings, 2 represents the car-axle; 3, the journal-box; L 4:,the gibs or bearing members dovetailed into the inner surface of the box3. j

5 represents the bearing-rollers proper, and 6 6 the balls between theend of the journal and the outer end of the journal-box, which reducefriction therebetween and prevent longitudinal movement of the journalwith rebers and thebox against any but longitudinal ,movement withrelation to each other.

terposed between the ends of the box 3 and the ends of rollers 5 arering-formed washers 7, which may be secured to the box in any suitablemanner, and said washers provide stops and wearing-surfaces for the endsof the rollers 5. p

v In operation the gibs or bearing members t rest upon only a portion ofthe balls or rollers. A suflicient number of rollers is provided toinsure there being at least one roller or ball between the journal andbearing at all times. Assuming that the axle rotates to the left, themovement of the axle or journal will roll the balls 5 and 5 to the leftunder the respective gibs, andthese balls will alone sustain the nal andgib. As there is always a roller or ball separating the bearing from thejournal, a loose roller or ball can always roll into bearing positionwithout appreciable resistance; but to further insure smooth movementthe edges of the gibs 4 are beveled, as shown, to provide an incline forthe roller or ball in its approach to its bearing position, whichincline facilitates rotation, especially in case of Slight discrepanciesbetween the diameters of the respective rollers or balls. As only theballs 5' 5 areunder restraint or under load, the other rollers or ballsare comparatively free from the load and the friction between themis correspondingly reduced. In the arrangement shown only from four to sixballs are in a position to bind, making at the most fourcontact-surfaces out of a total of 19 which are subject to the usualgrinding of rollers in bearings. The area of friction-surface of thegibs 4 may of course be varied in proportionto the amount of load to beimposed upon the rollers. A single gib 4 would be sufiicient for lightwork, and same could be so narrow that but two balls would sustain theload at any one time. I prefer, however, the arrangement shown forrailroad-coaches and box-cars, where the weight imposed upon the bearingis considerable. It is obvious that it is not absolutely necessary tobevel the edges of the gibs 4:, as the mounting thereof upon a freeroller or ball on an incline plane is largely theoretical, it beingassumed that the cross-section of all the rollers or balls is the same.The additional diameter of box made necessary by the projection of thegibs 4: beyond the inner surface thereof provides ample room for thefree rollers and also contributes to the prevention of binding betweensaid free rollers.

It is obvious that a plurality of ball-races may be provided for thejournal and box instead of the rollers, that the rollers may be of anysuitable length with relation to the box,

and that numerous other modifications may be Having thus described myinvention,I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Thecombination, with a journal, a series of rollers and a roller-boxsupporting said roll- 'ers around said journal, of segmental bearingmembers projecting from the upper surface of the box, said bearingmembers being adapted to support the entire load successively upon aminority number of said rollers.

2. The combination, with a journal, a series of rollers concentrictherewith and abox supporting said rollers, of apair of individualsegmental bearing members rigidly held in and projecting from thebearing-surface of the box, said bearing members having their projectingedges beveled at an acute angle with relation to the surface of thejournal and sustaining all of the load of the vehicle upon'the rollersin contact with such bearing members.

3. The combination, with a journal, an annular series of rollerssubstantially concentric with said journal, a roller-bearing box adaptedto sustain the lower of said rollers, of a pair of separate bearingmembers presenting segmental bearing-surfaces in the upper portion ofsaid box, each adapted to sustain successively a limited plurality outof the total number of rollers in said series and sustain all of theload upon said rollers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM S. SHARPNEGK.

